Golf club and glove including coacting non-slip elements and grip positioning means



Oct. 6, 1970 B MASSTAB 3,532,344

GOLF CLUB AND GLOVE INCLUDING COACTING NON-SLIP ELEMENTS AND GRIPPOSITIONING MEANS Filed June 21, 1968 COINCIDENT WITH LINE Y-Y I N VE NTOR. fien bmwMossfab 3 v awk,

Af/omeys United States Patent 0.

3,532,344 GOLF CLUB AND GLOVE INCLUDING COACTING NON-SLIP ELEMENTS ANDGRIP POSITIONING MEANS Benjamin Masstab, 168 Thunder Hill Drive,Stamford, Conn. 06902 Continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.553,134, May 26, 1966. This application June 21, 1968, Ser. No.

Int. Cl. A63b 53/14; A41d 19/00 US. Cl. 273-166 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A golf grip and glove are provided with especially shaped andlocated areas of the hook and loop component fabrics of a separablefabric fastener to improve gripping. The location and shape of thecomponent fabric guides the users hand to an appropriate and propergrip. The remainder of the grip is an exposed conventional grippingsurface for normal hand engagement. The shapes allow for maintenance ofproper grip when the club is held in a shorter position for certainpurposes.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No.553,134 filed May 26, 1966 and now abandoned.

This invention relates to a device for promoting proper grip of a usershand with respect to a handle. As is well known, a proper grip is anessential element in the effective operation of athletic equipment. Inparticular, the players grip on the handle of a golf club is of utmostimportance to the game. Slip or twist of the handle in the players handwill prevent accuracy. The present invention provides a means forpreventing such slip or twist even when the handle is 'wet.Additionally, the ability to reproduce a grip found to be effective isof considerable interest to the players. Heretofore, it has not beenreadily possible to reproduce such favorable grip each time the handleis grasped without the expense of much practice time to develop theproper feel of the handle.

The present invention assists in assuring such proper and secure grip byproviding simple and economical means for temporarily and adjustablyassociating a glove with a handle of a golf club. Both the glove and thehandle are provided with self-attractive surfaces which permit the gloveto be secured to the handle to prevent relative movement of the gloveand handle.

The invention :will be described with reference to a golf club and glovealthough the invention is useful in other similar applications.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view of the glove and golf grip showing how the grip isaligned with the gloved hand,

FIG. 2 is a view of the glove showing the shape and location of theglove mounted areas of separable fastener,

FIG. 3 shows the golf club gripped by the gloved hand,

FIG. 4 shows the shape of the separable fastener area which is to beafiixed to the golf club, and

FIG. 5 shows the golf club with the fastener area in proper position.

Referring now to the drawings, the present invention is illustrated asapplied to a golf club. In FIG. 1, the handle or grip portion of theclub shaft 9 is provided with a separable fastener surface 11 which maybe in the form of a shape of a special fabric bonded to the grip 10. Aglove 5 is similarly provided with a separable fastener surfaces 12-14adhered to the appropriate palm and finger portions of the glove by anadhesive or by other means such as stitching. The separable fastenerareas 11 and 1214 are pieces of a two-member flexible hook and loopfastener of the sort sold under the trademark Velcro by the VelcroCorporation, 681 Fifth Ave, New York, NY. Such a fastener consists of apair of fabric tapes, one of which is provided with hook-like elementsformed of a flexible resilient monofilament, and the other of which hasa pile fabric face to provide loop elements. Pressing these fabriccomponents together produces an intermeshing or locking of the hookswith the pile loops to provide a bond of surprising strength in shear.Peeling the components apart readily separates the bond. In the presentinvention, either of the hooks or loop components may be associated withthe handle provided that the other is associated with the glove. Mypreference is that the handle be provided with a shaped area of the looppile component and the glove provided with shaped pieces of the hooksurfaced material.

The use of such separable fabric fasteners extending over broad areas ofa handle and gloove is known. Such broad area application assuresadhesion but does not offer any guidance toward a proper alignment andfurther presents an undesirable bulk or stiffness in the glove andinterferes with the grip of the ungloved hand. The present inventionovercomes these defects by providing special shapes in particularlocations to assure proper grip without interference or bulk.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the shapes and locations of separable fastenerareas 12-14 are illustrated. It is my preference to apply the hookedfabric component to the glove. This is accomplished by sewing theperiphery of each adhesively attached area. The shape of the palm area12 is designed to provide adequite hook area with out causingundesirable folds when the hand is closed about the club grip. The loweredge f-g of area 12, proximate the fingers, is terminated so as to liealong the major transverse fold line or crease of skin present in thehuman palm. The wider portion 1 of area 12 overlies the heel of thehand. The shape of the upper edge g-f proximate the 'wrist is configuredto merge the heel area with the termination g of the leading edge ,f-gnear the index fingers. Such shape provides adequate hook area under themost effective gripping areas of the hand without spanning creases inthe hand thus reducing buckling or wrinkling of the fastener coveredareas of the glove. Separable fastener areas 13 and 14 are located atthe fourth and fifth finger tips to promote an effective grip by theselesser strength fingers. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the majorityof the glove surface is free of areas of separable fasteners. Thisallows for retention of much of the feel of a conventional golf club andgrip.

FIG. 4 shows the shape of the separable fastener piece which is to beadhered to golf club grip. It should be noted that line x-x is animaginary line which will be parrallel to the axis of the golf clubshaft 9 when the grip portion 11 is aflixed to the glove. Line xx passesthrough the diagonally opposite corners b, d of piece 11. Edge a-b andedge dc are parallel to each other and perpendicular to line x-x. Edgeb-c is a straight line lying at angle 2 with respect to line xx. Edge adis a fair curve. When piece 11 is adhesively secured to the club grip10. as illustrated in FIGS, line xx of piece 11 is coincident with linev-y which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the golf club and alsois in the plane of club face 8. Edges a-b and c-d lie along circles onthe circumference of the grip 10. Edge b-c lies along the slow spiralabout the grip 10.

Proper alignment of the golf club and the users hand is accomplished byplacing the straight portion of leading edge fg of glove area 12 inalignment with edge b-c of the grip area. When the gloved hand iswrapped about the grip, the wider heel portion of glove area 12 contactsthe broader upper end of grip area 11 and the narrower portion near g ofglove area 12 overlies the narrower portion of the grip area 11. Thus,all of glove area 12 overlies grip area 11 and the straight edge ofglove area 12 is aligned with edge bc of grip area 11. When the glovedhand is wrapped about the grip after positioning in accordance with theabove, the fourth and fifth finger areas 3 and 14 overlie portions ofthe grip area 11 near corner a. With all of these areas in contact, anexcellent adhesion of the separable fastener area is accomplished.

During golf, there are occasions where it is desired to shorten the gripwhich means that the left hand is moved somewhat downward toward theclub head 7 from the conventional position illustrated in FIG. 3.Because of the shape of piece 11, advancing the left hand towards theclub head and effecting alignment of the leading edge of area 12 withedge 11-0 of area 11 will cause the hand to be rotated slightly from theconventional position. Rotation of the hand as the grip is shortened isdesired. Thus, the shape of area 11 promotes proper alignment of thehand in either conventional or shortened positions.

The right or ungloved hand primarily contracts the conventional grippingsurfaces of grip 10. Area 11 is almost entirely covered by the glovedleft hand. Those areas not covered lie in a position with respect to theungloved hand which are not important in the grip of that hand. Bylimiting the regions of grip 10 and the glove 5 which are provided withthe separable fastener areas above described, the feel of the gripremains very nearly that of a conventional club and glove. By providinga simple procedure for guiding the hand into proper alignment and byproviding secure and slip proof association of the glove and club,reproducibility of a proper grip is assured. This reproducibility is ofgreat value to beginners.

It is obvious that the invention can be modified for use by right orleft hand golfers. The invention is illustrated and described for aright handed golfer. The invention is further useful to provide a securegrip for those incapable of normal grip strength because of physicalinfirmity, including loss of digits. The invention therefore may allowpersons previously incapable to play golf, as well as allow others tocarry out that activity more effectively.

Although the invention has been illustrated with a complete glove, it isapparent that a partial glove, or a glove having no finger coveringportions may be used.

It is apparent that edge 12-0 of the fastener portion to be affixed tothe handle is determinative of the grip because edge bc is aligned withthe straight edge fg of the glove portion 12. The manner of gripping maybe altered to suit the user by changing the acute angle e to suit theusers preference. Fastener areas 11, with angles e appropriate for aparticular user, may be reliably located on the plurality of grips in aset by aligning the line xx which is a diagonal through corners b and dwith the shaft axis and placing xx in the plane of the club face.

I claim:

1. The combination comprising a golf club including a grip and a gloveadapted to be worn on the hand, portions of said glove and a portion ofsaid grip having cooperating separable fastener material componentswhich interlock to bind the separable fastener material componentssecurely when pressed together face-to-face, one of the said separablefastener material components having a large number of hooks of flexibleresilient material projecting therefrom, and the other of said separablefastener material components having a large number of loops of flexibleresilient material projecting therefrom, said hooks being operable toengage said loops when said material components are pressed togetherface-to-face and thereby to cause said glove to cling tenaciously tosaid grip in a non-slip connection, the separable fastener componentcomprising said grip portion being configured and attached in a locationon said grip such that one edge of said grip portion lies at an acuteangle with respect to an imaginary line which extends both parallel tothe longitudinal axes of the golf club grip and shaft and in the planeof the club face, the separable fastener component comprising said gloveportion being attached to the palm of the glove and being configured andlocated so as to minimally interfere with closure of the hand about thegolf club grip and having a relatively straight edge portion extendinggenerally parallel and proximate to the major transverse crease of thehuman hand such that alignment of said glove portion edge congruent withsaid one edge of the grip portion will promote proper grip position.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the separable fastener havingloops is affixed to the glove and the component having loops is affixedto the golf club grip.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein additional areas of the separablefastener component having hooks are afiixed to at least one of the glovefingers at a location near its tip and cooperable with the gripcomponent.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein the angle of said grip fastenercomponent edge is selected to promote rotation of the gloved hand intoproper position when the gripping of the club is shortened by moving thegloved hand toward the club head and aligning the glove straight edgeportion with the grip fastener edge portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 586,373 7/1897 Walker. 1,573,6122/1926 Johnston 273165 2,258,999 10/1941 Nunn 273166 X 2,293,347 8/1942Lindfelt 2159 2,484,762 10/ 1949 Strazza 27316 5 3,368,811 2/1968 Finney273166 X 2,270,882 1/1942 Link 273166 FOREIGN PATENTS 547,946 9/1942Great Britain. 261,786 7/ 1963 Australia.

GEORGE J. MARLO, Primary Examiner R; J. APLEY, Assistant Examiner U.S.Cl. X.R.

